Balmoral Cocktail

I really liked this one, with it's full, rich wine flavors and scotch sweetness. Make it with Lillet Blanc and Dubonnet Rouge if you can't find Dubonnet Blanc.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. Dubonnet Blanc
• 1/2 oz. Dubonnet Rouge
• 3 dashes bitters

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

Caber Toss

I didn't like the combination in this drink as much as I thought I would. I would cut the Pernod amount in half and up the scotch by the same amount if I were doing it again. There's only so much Pernod a drink can stand.

• 1 1/4 oz. scotch
• 1 1/4 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz Pernod

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Skye Swizzle

A swizzle is a cocktail served in a highball or Collin's glass that is chilled by rapidly stirring the ice as you add ingredients. Here's how to do it:

• 3/4 oz. scotch
• 3/4 oz. dark rum
• 3/4 oz. gin
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• several dashes sweet vermouth
• several dashes Cherry Heering
• cherry

Combine scotch, rum, gin and lime juice in a highball or Collin's glass full of ice. Stir quickly while the ice sinks. Top off with fresh ice and add vermouth and Cherry Heering. Stir again until the outside of the glass is frosty. Top with cherry garnish.

Jack Rose

The Jack Rose is an old classic that was once declared dead by the Washington Post. It's been recently revived by makers of apple brandy like Laird's. For this one I used Laird's Applejack.

• 2 oz. apple brandy
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. grenadine

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Modern #2

This would have been considered a modern cocktail during the 20's. It was a little stiff for my tastes, and probably would be best with a mild blend like Cutty Sark to fit the style of the time.

• 3 oz. scotch
• several dashes dark rum
• several dashes Pernod
• several dashes orange juice
• several dashes orange bitters
• cherry

Combine all ingredients in a rocks glass with ice. Stir until slightly chilled.

Elderflower Thistle

I have to confess, I was intrigued by this cocktail by Carey Jones and John D. McCarthy on FWx: http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/drink/3-cocktails-make-st-germain.
So far it is the best flavored rocks scotch drink I've made, better than the Godfather and the Rusty Nail. I think it is because it uses so much St. Germain, which is light and citrusy and doesn't compete with the scotch for flavor. Try this by stirring and only using the juice from a lemon zest for flavor.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1 oz. St. Germain
• lemon zest

Build cocktail with scotch, St. Germain and large ice cubes in a rocks glass. Stir ingredients until cool and twist lemon zest above the drink before dripping it in.

Gretna Green

A little pea-soup green and unattractive, this drink packs a wallop of flavor. This will be popular with drinkers of Irish Mist and Drambuie but uses neither. Here's a helpful hint. Make a solution with the Chartreuse and the honey by muddling them together in the shaker. This will break up the honey and spread it throughout the drink.

• 1 oz. heather honey (clover used)
• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
• 1 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Pina Colada

This cocktails is one of the best known panty-droppers of all time. It has everything a good dessert drink needs, cream, cocoanut, pineapple...not to mention a whole bunch of rum. Garnish it with whatever tropical fruit you have on hand.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. dark rum
• 3 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 oz. cocoanut cream
• Garnishes include pineapple spear, orange wheel, cherry, lime wheel, etc.

Combine all ingredients except garnishes in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled wine goblet. Add garnishes as needed.

Southern Bride

I'm not sure what is southern or wedding-themed about this drink, but it is light and refreshing with grapefruit and just a hint of Luxardo maraschino.

• 3 oz. gin
• 2 oz. fresh squeezed grapefruit
• 1 tsp. Luxardo

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Xanthia

What a flavorful drink! It turns out that I am enjoying making these strong brown cocktails that look like whiskey but are made with gin and liqueurs that are green and red. This one will knock you over with flavor. If you only have green Chartreuse, I recommend scaling back on it as a substitution for the yellow. It is overwhelming!

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 1/2 Cherry Heering
• 1 1/2 yellow Chartreuse (green pictured)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Tailspin

This is one bad-ass drink. It is not only the proportions, but, with the exception of the gin, everything in it is above 40 proof. It's a Chartreuse bomb of a drink too, with so many herbal flavors it is overwhelming. I'd consider it a flawed drink with the exception that I think that this was done intentionally to stupefy the drinker with flavor and potency as it did me.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
• 1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• dash orange bitters
• lemon twist
• cherry

Combine all ingredients except twist and cherry in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with fruit.

Nightmare

This freaky cocktail puts me in the mood for spine-tingling tales. It's easy, and now I know how to make the daddy of the Nightmare Abbey.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. madeira
• 1 oz. Cherry Heering
• 1 tsp. fresh squeezed orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Great Secret

This drink is self described in its name. Lillet Blanc and gin are great together. Sweet Lillet balances out dry gin and adds wine and orange flavors. Bitters, which add interest to any cocktail, top the whole thing off. It is a secret that anyone with a bottle of Lillet discovers sooner or later.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 3-5 dashes of Angostura Bitters
• orange zest

Combine gin and Lillet in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add bitters and orange zest.

Monkey Gland

A very good drink for such an unappealing name. The Monkey Gland is tropical and intriguing with just a hint of absinthe.

• 1 3/4 oz. gin
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. absinthe
• 1/2 tsp. grenadine
• orange slice

 Combine all ingredients except orange slice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the orange.

Mai Tai

I made this at work for a guest who likes tropical drinks. This was made on the fly, so I floated 1 oz. of dark rum on top. You can do that or just include it in the mix before shaking.

• 2 oz. dark rum
• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. curacao
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 tbsp. grenadine
• 1 tbsp. orgeat syrup
• pineapple spear, tiny umbrella, or lime wedge, or all three.

Combine all ingredients except the garnishes in a shaker or blender with ice. Mix and pour into a highball or tall Collin's glass (or tiki mug if you have one.) Add garnishes and/ or float dark rum on top.

Sakura Sakura

This is my invention for the cherry blossom season, but it's not like anything you will find at restaurants during the citywide festival in D.C. That is because I use real cherry blossoms and flavors. It is a bit complicated, so I recommend you only do this one with very specific instructions and ingredients. First get your blossom garnish from a tree that is not on protected federal land. (Mine was growing in a parking lot outside my building.) Just a blossom cluster will do.

Then use Teavana's Snow Geisha cherry blossom white scented tea to make an infusion of Bombay Sapphire East and the tea. I did this with 2 ounces of gin and one teaspoon of tea. You could make one cup of gin with a tablespoon of tea. Infuse gin for about an hour. The flavoring is on the tea leaves and transfers very quickly.

Finally coat a highball glass with Luxardo, add ice and infused gin, sugar syrup, grenadine, and top with club soda. Float Cherry Heering on top and add blossom garnish.

• 1 tsp. Luxardo
• 1 1/2 oz. cherry blossom infused gin
• 1/2 tsp. sugar syrup
• 1/2 tsp. grenadine
• 1/2 oz. Cherry Heering
• sparkling water
• cherry blossom garnish

Whiskey Daisy

This is amazingly refreshing and very much like a sweet Whiskey Sour. Definitely do this on a hot day.

• 3 oz. whiskey
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. grenadine
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• sparkling water
• orange slice

Combine whiskey, lemon juice, grenadine and sugar syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour contents into a highball glass. Top with sparkling water and garnish with orange slice.

Vesper

I love what Lillet Blanc does to a Martini--and so does James Bond. Try it and you'll appreciate Felix reaction to Bond's ordering the drink in Casino Royal: "That sounds good. I'll have one of those."

• 2 oz. gin (Gordon's)
• 1 oz. vodka (Gordon's)
• 1/2 oz. Lillet Blanc
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake, don't stir, and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with twist.

Yale

This is my final Ivy League cocktail unless someone can point me to one I missed. There are other schools, but I can't find their cocktails. Yale is a bitter cherry Martini--classically Italian with maraschino and dry vermouth. I just thought it needed a cherry to complete the whole picture.

• 3 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/4 tsp. Luxardo
• 3-5 dashes of bitters (Peychaud's shown)

Shake all ingredients on ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry if desired.

Old Etonian

This is an old college drink, if it isn't Ivy League. An Etonian is someone who works at or attends Eton College. It was a little unintended, but the drink becomes layered when you add the creme de noyaux and bitters. The bitters float and the creme sinks. The lines on the glass really illustrate this effect.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 1 1/2 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 2 dashes of creme de noyaux
• 2 dashes of orange bitters (Peychaud's pictured)

Combine gin and Lillet in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Add bitters adn creme de noyaux.

Princeton

I really appreciate what ruby port does to a gin cocktail. It tastes like desert wine and colors it pink. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the school's colors though. Anyway, it was a stand out among the Ivy League cocktails I've made this week.

• 3 oz. gin
• 1 oz ruby port
• 3-5 dashes of Angostura bitters
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except lemon twist in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the twist.

Cornell Cocktail

This is another excellent Ivy League cocktail, this time made with gin. The egg white gives it a very milky and otherworldly color to what would be a clear cocktail. Here's how to make it:

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. egg white
• 1/2 oz. cherry liquor (Luxardo for clarity)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Harvard

The Harvard is going to be my first in a series of Ivy League school drinks from the old college recipes popular at the time. This one was pretty easy to do and used ingredients most bars have on hand.

• 2 oz. brandy
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• 1 dash bitters

Combine all ingredients with ice in a shaker. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.